A/N this is chapter one! One chapter is like 25 pages, so it would be a 40 minute read. I hope you're as excited to read as much as I'm excited to write for you guys! It would mean the world to me if you could vote for this part (by pressing the little star at the bottom) and maybe comment on which part you liked the most! Now lets not keep you waiting much longer...

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A is for "Anything for you Princess" - Phoebe's POV

I strolled through the royal academy gardens. A soft and rosy fragrance danced around my nose. I glanced around the flowerbeds. The bright sunflower's petals stood tall, the lavender's soft blush was sprinkled here and there, around the garden, and the elegant roses stood at the gates and around the benches to give all passer-bys a lovely sight.

The sky was cloudless and the lofty greenhouse mirrored the sun's rays all around the fields. The academy walls towered over the last of the flowerbeds as I tugged my cloak and entered the crowded halls, filled with hustling girls, attending their classes.

I always wondered why I was an imperial. I possessed the qualities, but not the opportunities to prove myself one. My curls bounced around my shoulders as I walked briskly, my heels clanging on the floor, sounding exceedingly loud in my own ears.

My fingers loosely brushed the outside wall, headed to the quarters, where I was to be studying in my dorm room. My life was within these walls, not once we were made to leave them, the only time we could step out of the academy grounds was when we had the royal court meeting, where all girls were invited to the castle for a one-day stay till all the teachers could come back after the meeting.

"Morning Ms. Miller." a voice greeted me, I paused and realized it was Lady Katherine, our headmistress. I curtsied and bowed, "Good Morning Lady Katherine." She smiled and walked by me.

I looked around to see if any one of the girls were free to walk with me to the library, being alone is a bore, especially if you're studying in an academy bustling with thousands of students.

"Clementine!" I called my classmate and childhood best friend, she was slightly taller than me, a bit leaner too, she was considered one of the prettiest girls in our school, with her blue eyes, pale skin and wavy ash blonde hair that set her apart from the crowd.

She looked towards my direction and lifted a witty smile, she was known for her incisive comments, "Phoebe!" she waved, "I hope you're not going to the library, I can't walk that far, I just bought new heels." she playfully pouted, I rolled my eyes, grabbed her arm and pulled her, forcing her to walk with me.

"Did you finish your report on the Tribus Spring Banquet?" knowing very well that she would have forgotten.

"At least now I have a reason to walk to the library." she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

I sighed in exasperation, "Mrs. Charlotte is not going to be happy."

"She never is, at least with me she isn't."

I smiled, we were walking through the corridors, all the students were in their classrooms or dorms, studying for the term assessments or catching up on notes.

"It's hard to believe that I have royalty in my blood." Clementine started, "I always thought myself more as an Intrepid than an Imperial, like Mae."

"I know, you're more of a fighter than a posh princess." I playfully replied. "But we don't choose our caste, I mean, it's better to be an Imperial than an Astute."

Clementine nodded. Imperials were the highest caste, Imperials have noble blood which makes them royalty. Intrepids, the second, have adventurous souls, they are made for the outdoors and merriment, like Mae, Clementine's sister, and the lowest caste are the Astutes, they're commoners. Astutes cover up 45% of Tribus Trine's population, which makes them especially common.

The academy keeps Astutes to work as quarter-servants, who keep clean our dorms and ensure the royal gardens remain pleasant. Most of them are our age, but homeless and hungry, so the school employs them in return for money and food.

"I feel bad for them, just because of who they are doesn't mean they have to be set apart from the society."

I shrugged, it wasn't in my power to change the society's opinions, "Let's just get to the library."

"Race ya!" Clementine yelled, grabbed a cup of water lying on a side-desk and threw it on the floor, which made me slip and fall.

"Hey!' I yelled, the front of my gown was a bit wet, and I slowly lifted myself up. "You got my dress wet!"

Clementine ignored me and continued running ahead, which wasn't very far since she was wearing heels, and dressed in her tight crimson cloak. She took a sharp turn to the next corridor, and I lost sight of her after that.

I got up from the floor and walked nimbly to the hallway Clementine turned to, she was still running ahead, and completely passed the academy library.

I chuckled and opened the two doors to the library, which took up half of the academy itself. No-one used the library during the term, but when it came close to our finals, the place was crowded with students borrowing books and researching papers.

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I wasn't much of a bookworm, those were the Astutes, I preferred dressing up and looking pretty, but I also valued my grades. I sighed and looked around the hundreds of shelves lined up in some chronological order by the Astute librarians.

"Hello. Which book, please?" a girl in a frilly top and skirt looked at me, she had hazel eyes and long lashes that stuck out from her eyes, she looked like she was a year older than me. She wore a name tag that read: SUSAN, she must be a new librarian, we have a lot of them, and she wore a sandstone cloak, which made me realize she was an Astute.

I cutesied towards her, a formal greeting all girls in the academy were made to do when meeting someone new, even astutes, "Tribus Trine through the ages, please."

"Hmmm... studying for Trines History test tomorrow? A lot of girls have asked for the same book. I'll check if there's still a book available, but you can go and check Shelf 304 for anything related, that you might like."

I nodded and turned to the shelves behind me when Clementine decided to make a grand entrance, "I have arrived!" she yelled elegantly, and cat-walked her way to one of the shelves, clearly not noticing that I reached before her.

"Took you long enough, what happened? Missed the turn?" I joked. Clementine did her signature look of annoyance and rolled her eyes at me. I chuckled.

"Help me look for something on shelf 304, apparently a lot of girls asked for the same book before me." I summarized, she nodded and walked on the aisle labeled '300-330' and I followed.

"Tribus Tales, Ages of the Trines, Dawn before the Imperials..." Clementine mumbled as she brushed through the books on the shelves. "Wait, what are we searching for again?"

"Trine through the ages, or Tribus Timeline." I reminded her. "It has to be a timeline of all the eras of Tribus Trine's Empire.

Tribus Trine is our Empire, which literally means, 'Three Parts', since the empire is divided into three Kingdoms: Imperium, Intrepidus, and Astutus. A lot of people wish to be Imperials and get a chance to live in the Imperium, one of the prettiest places in the WORLD. I feel lucky to be put into this caste, but almost everyone in the academy wishes to be an Intrepid because of how fun it is being one.

"Found one! Timeframe of the Trine empire." I looked at the book Clementine was holding in her hands.

"Who's the author?"

"Ummm... Geraldine Frost..."

"Don't know her, but I think we can borrow this book." I grabbed it from Clementine's hands and asked one of the librarians to check out this book for us to borrow.

"Return by Next Monday, before 4 PM." The librarian reminded, her name tag read Monica, she was the librarian for the juniors, I saw her plenty of times before. "If not, you won't be able to borrow another one till next Month."

I acknowledged what she said and headed out with Clementine.

"What now? She asked.

'Well we can study in our dorms-" I was about to say when the bell cut me. "Or we can attend our classes..."

"Race ya to class!" Clementine yelled and ran, I rolled my eyes, I rather take the stairs to the fourth floor than to walk all the corridors up there.

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I straightened my tie, adjusted my crimson cloak, patted my skirt, and climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor. It was a long climb, a lot of girls hurried to their classes too, a few strands of red fell out of my ginger curls, being a red-head was something I most despised about myself, all the pretty girls had beautiful golden-blonde hair, including Clementine, and I was the only red-head in the whole academy. My ginger hair complimented my crimson cloak, green eyes and freckles, which made me look a bit more elegant in a certain angle.

I try to maintain my elegance by dressing in style: heels, my pencil skirt, and ironed top with my washed crimson cloak, which all Imperials were made to wear, but sometimes I just feel my beauty is a lie because of my hair.

I reached the fourth floor after a lot of panting and climbing, to see that Clementine was already outside the classroom door before me. Girls continued to rush in and out of classes with the ends of their cloaks flying around, which made crossing the staircase to my class, on the opposite side, very hectic.

I sighed and opened the door to my History and Culture class, Mrs. Charlotte, our H and C teacher, who was incredibly grubby and rude, eyed me for being late, but allowed me to enter.

Clementine sat in the middle row, next to Florence Beck, who was the former head-girl last year, and stuck her tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes, which I did a lot, and sat in the first row next to Chloe Grace, one of the monitors of our grade.

"Did you finish your report?" Chloe whispered, while Mrs. Charlotte was writing the date on the blackboard.

"I did, but not the essay I was supposed to write on Tribus Trines Timeline." I replied.

"Oh that's alright, it isn't due until tomorrow."

"Ms. Miller and Grace," Mrs. Charlotte intervened." Would you mind explaining to us the most important conversation that is going on during my class?" She raised an eyebrow.

I turned red but Chloe was prepared, "Oh I was just telling Phoebe about the wonderful chapter we're studying today, the Tribus Tales is such an interesting topic to learn about in our empire's culture, and it also gives us a specific insight on how the people of the first era lived like and how they spent their time creating myths!"

I lifted a soft smile and nodded, Mrs. Charlotte scoffed and instructed everyone to open their culture textbook to Chapter 7.

H and C was one of the most boring classes in this Academy, The best classes would be royal courtesy and socials, royal courtesy is all about royal etiquette and mannerism, and socials is all about formal greetings and conversation.

"According to Paragraph three, Tribus Trine was separated during the first era, the people could differentiate them by..." Mrs. Charlotte Prompted. "Harrington, answer please."

Veronica Harrington, is the academy's most popular student, a lot of girls say she might be the next empress of Tribus Trine, but with her attitude, I don't think she'll be going anywhere.

Veronica rose elegantly from her seat, "The Imperials wore Crimson Cloaks, to signify their power over the Empire, the Intrepids wore Sapphire Cloaks, to signify how blithe they can be, and the Astutes wore torn Sandstone Cloaks, to signify how low they are in the social class."

Mrs. Charlotte nodded, "And to this day the three kingdoms still wear their signified Cloaks to differentiate between castes." she finished for Veronica.

"Read the Paragraphs in red, and you'll see that the Imperials were..."

Veronica sat down and crumpled a piece of paper in her hands that she, evidently, read out from. I hated Veronica, she always thought she was higher than the others by acting smart and looking gorgeous. She winked at Tiana, her best friend and they both quietly giggled.

Veronica had lucious light-blonde wavy hair that shimmered under the sun, her deep and earthy hazel eyes, made anyone want to stare into them for days and days long, the only thing that didn't make her look like a goddess was her freckles, which she hated herself, like me, her freckles ran all over her nose bridge and under her eyes.

I looked at Clementine who was in a deep conversation with Florence, rather than reading the red paragraphs in the textbook. I sighed and tried to read and understand the points Mrs. Charlotte was teaching us.

"I hope you all prepared your report on Tribus Spring Banquet" Mrs. Charlotte reminded, "Please submit the papers to me one-by-one when I call your names."

"Alexandra Jones.."

I arched my back and relaxed my shoulders, my report was on my table and after hours of reading and research, I had completed my report last night.

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"Hey Phoebe!" Veronica's fake smile greeted me.

"Hi." I mumbled, not really wanting to talk to her.

"I see you finished your report." she eyed my papers, "Has anyone ever told you that your hair looks amazing today?" she tried flattering me in a charming way.

"Forget it Veronica, I am not letting you copy my Report."

She scoffed at me and left to charm someone else in her flattery to copy their report.

Tiana eyed me, and Veronica started charming Lydia, one of the younger students in our class.

"Clementine Williams." Mrs. Charlotte eyed her suspiciously through her rectangular spectacles. "Your report?"

"Uhh.. re-report?..oh yes, the one about-uh..."

"Meet me in my office after class."

Clementine's face was red and sweaty, Imperials were known for not getting into trouble, we were very responsible, as what we do reflects our status.

I twirled a strand of my hair around my finger, waiting for Mrs. Charlotte to reach my name, I looked out of the window and day-dreamed.

I always wondered what it would be lie to be a princess, I was a noble, yes, and when I graduated I would be Lady Phoebe, but I wanted something more than a title, I wanted power.

"Phoebe Miller." Mrs. Charlotte stared at me through her spectacles. Had it already come to 'p'? I got up from my seat and walked through the classroom to place my paper on Mrs. Charlotte's table, when Veronica's leg shot out from underneath the table I was passing, which made me trip in the middle of the room.

Giggles rose from the classroom and my face became as red as my crimson cloak.

"I expected a lot of things from you Miller, but clumsiness wasn't one of them!" Mrs. Charlotte sighed. "Just give me your report."

Veronica gave a wicked smile as I walked back to my seat, and I stared intensely into her eyes which made her let out a tiny yelp.

After twenty minutes of continuous chatter, the class had ended, and we were to go for our last class before lunch and then be back in our dorms preparing ourselves for the essay we were to be submitting tomorrow, and then proceed to our evening classes.

"You fell gracefully, if I do say so myself." Clementine joked while walking by my side to our dorms. "Too bad you and I don't share a dorm to see you gracefully trip more often."

"Ha ha." I laughed in annoyance, "I just want to go back to my dorm and dress myself up, I heard that if you heat your natural curls, they'll stay curly for longer."

"Really? I always wanted curly hair!"

"Don't even, having curls is the most horrible thing, you can't control them and they're always tangled up when you wake up from slumber."

Clementine giggled, "It still looks pretty on you."

I rolled my eyes and climbed downstairs to our next class Royal Courtesy, which was also in a different building behind the academy, along with the auditorium and our dorm rooms.

"It's royal Courtesy AND it's before lunch! My two favorite things together!" Clementine shrieked.

"You have to stay back with Mrs Charlotte, remember?" I reminded her and smirked.

Her face instantly fell, "Oh no, please NO!" she cried dramatically. "I wanted to go for royal courtesy!" She wailed like a child.

"Don't embarrass me, get back into the classroom and receive your punishment for not being responsible." I said sternly, not knowing why I was so bossy.

"Hmph." Clementine turned back to class, while I headed downstairs to Royal Courtesy, on the first floor.

"Hello, Miller." Another of Veronica's fake smiles greeted me. "I noticed that you're not aware that you're IN MY WAY." There were four other girls behind her, wearing heavy make-up and and fancy curls, giggling behind Veronica.

"Sorry..." I muttered, the last thing I wanted was to get embarrassed in front of prettier girls.

Then brushed my shoulder and walked down the staircase, right now I wished I hadn't reminded Clementine of her detention. I hated being alone.

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"Now, now, class!" Lady Bethany, our RC teacher, called. "Today we will be practicing posture."

A crowd of girls squealed excitedly. I didn't care much for posture, but ball dancing and etiquettes, but if you're a noble, you must learn every tiny thing about etiquette, including postures.

"Now each one of you will gently seat on one of the chairs at the side of the room, and pretend you are in a tea party, take with you a tea cup and hold it properly, like how I taught you to hold it last class."

I took a teacup from the piles of teacups laid on Lady Bethany's desk. I held it like how Lady Bethany had taught us last class, straight, left hand supporting the bottom of the cup and using one hand to sip.

"Now the first things first, BACKS STRAIGHT!"

We all shifted our shoulders high and our backs straighter.

"Good, now a mannered lady sits with the bottom of their feet touching the floor completely, and their necks would be craned a bit higher to look tall."

At once we all followed what Lady Bethany had said, she smiled at us.

'To maintain a permanent and correct posture you MUST be seated straight, your back mustn't touch the backrest of the chair, and you should keep your head high."

We all nodded and fixed our posture again.

"Very well done girls! Now I want you to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you and use correct posture throughout the whole dialogue exchange."

I looked at the girls sitting next to me, it was Chloe, I smiled at her, if it wasn't Clementine, it had to be Chloe.

"Lovely Afternoon, Lady Phoebe." she smiled at me.

"Why it is indeed, Lady Grace." I smiled back, lifting my shoulder a bit.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked politely.

"Oh, I really do."

We both giggled, the fact that we talked in a foreign accent and like we were grown ups.

"Do you wish you could be a lady? I mean the title." she asked me, ditching the accent completely.

"Sometimes I wish I could have a bit more power in that title. Being Lady Phoebe is fine, but having the power is better."

"I know how you feel, I don't want to end up like Lay Bethany, teaching girls all day, I want to be a leader, or at least, have more responsibilities, to prove myself."

"So it's not just me who feels like I'm not good enough?"

"Well, I don't know about that, but I sure do feel that way."

We suddenly burst giggling for no apparent reason.

"Miller and Grace, having a fruitful conversation?"

We smiled cheekily. "Why yes Lady Bethany, Chloe and I were just discussing how lovely it would be if we could have our tea party in the royal gardens."

"That is a splendid idea! Come along girls, we'll continue our class outside."

I rose from my seat and walked along with everyone else, Lady Bethany leading us outside, while all the girls started chattering at once.

We walked past Mrs. In Charlotte's classroom, I saw Clementine being made to write her report, and I didnt want to leave her alone while we were going outside.

I turned the classroom door, opened it halfway, and poked my head through.

"Uh excuse me Mrs. Charlotte, but Lady Katherine wants to speak to Clementine." Mrs. Charlotte eyed me suspiciously,

"And why would she need Clementine?"

My palms became sweaty, "Because uh- she has another detention! For spilling water near the library." I spat out, not knowing what else to say, a stupid reason really, but Mrs. Charlotte thought otherwise.

Mrs. Charlotte gave me a skeptical look.

"She made three girls slip and break their ankles, and now they're bed ridden and they cant attend their classes or do the term assessments." I mumbled out loud.

Mrs. Charlotte looked shocked, "Clementine, to the headmistress' office NOW!"

I smirked and Clementine huffed in annoyance, "Thanks for everything" she mumbled sarcastically as she pushed past me to the door.

"Anything for you, Princess." I smirked at her.

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"Girls stop!" A voice rang behind us, we turned around to see a lady, of her middle twenties, standing near the staircase entrance, she wore a sandstone cloak, which meant that she was an Astute worker. "Didn't your teacher tell you? All girls are supposed to head to the academy auditorium now!"

Clementine and I looked at each other, "Lady Bethany was our last teacher, I suppose she's forgotten to tell us." I replied. "But we'll be there."

The lady nodded and left to tell all the other girls of Lady Bethany's class.

"Why do we have to assemble? We only have the assembly once a week, and that was just on Tuesday."

I shrugged. "Maybe they saw you spill the water on the floor near the library and decided to make it publicly known that you're going to be expelled." I playfully replied, eager to know what was going on myself.

"How far is the auditorium?" we were outside the academy, the auditorium, like our dorm rooms, is located in another building parallel to the academy grounds. A lot of girls were rushing in our direction, including Chloe and Florence.

"Just a few blocks, we'll make it on time." Clementine assured. "I hope they're not making another formal rule for the academy, we have to follow the fifty rules they put before us already, I can't bear following another one."

"Rules don't matter, I just hope they're not cutting the amount of girls who can attend the academy, there are already thousands of girls here, and I'd feel bad for them if they had to leave the only royal academy in the Imperium..."

"I wouldn't feel bad if it was Veronica."

"No-one would." we both giggled.

We entered the auditorium, a lot of crimson cloaks lined up in an orderly fashion, to find out what was going on, the teachers lined up near the doors as well, and our headmistress, Lady Katherine, was standing on the podium in front of everyone.

The auditorium was a huge place, about the size of three Olympiad swimming pools put together, the only downside of the school was that there is only one auditorium, which made it specifically hard to exit with three thousand students blocking the way.

"Attention!" Our headmistress called. Me and Clementine lined up with everyone-else.

"Afternoon girls, I know it is rather unusual for us to assemble here, but I have a very important announcement to make." Lady Katherine cleared her throat. "As you all know, the very reason this school exists is because of our kind empress, Beatrice III, who very generously provided the land for us to build up this academy."

All eyes looked at the headmistress, piercing her with their looks, eager to know why they have been called.

"Our academy has come very far since then, we've expanded to three more academies in the Imperium and we've achieved a global historic record of ensuring young girls to graduate as royals, inside and outside."

I glanced at Clementine, who seemed bored with the speech and was just waiting to know the real reason we all lined up here. The curtains were drawn, which made the room dark. The atmosphere was quiet, and not a girl looked away from the headmistress' face.

"...As many of you know, Empress Beatrice III, has no successors, and per custom it is vital that she should hold a royal selection of girls who possess the qualities of becoming a successful future empress."

I stared wide-eyed at Lady Katherine, was she saying what I thought she was...

'And so she has willed that the ten best performing students from our school should be elected to test themselves as potential empresses of Tribus Trine..."

Excited chatter rose from the students, the teachers were frozen and clementine hugged me, "What if its me!" she excitedly shrieked.

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"Girls!" Lady Katherine spoke. "Now we have compiled a list of well conducting students who would serve well for the cause, Mrs. Rebecca will be reading out the names tomorrow morning." With that she left the podium and stood aside to let Mrs. Rebecca explain the rest. It was all happening so fast, Empress Beatrice wanted a new successor so suddenly?

"Good Morning girls. I'll be explaining the procedure, we don't want to hear any unnecessary chatter in between..."

I glanced at clementine who was bouncing up and down in excitement.

"So firstly we'll be looking at your academics, how well you are at classes and your overall academic performance. Next we'll be looking at your noble profile, as in, the grades your RC teacher gives, based on your royal mannerism and etiquette, after all, that is what makes an Imperial."

My face fell a bit, I wasn't the best at any of the two which was already announced, I tightened my lips and disappointment stung, but I shrugged the feeling away.

"Next we'll be glancing at your status, who you've been interacting with, if you have any families from different castes and if you possess the quality of becoming a true ruler..."

I caught Veronica adjusting her uniform, which was just a plain gown all girls were made to wear, and smirking at everyone, she was the only girl in the school whose whole family were Imperials, except for me, I never knew my family so I can't be sure who it might be.

"And lastly we'll be having a small interview with the selected students so far, and if Lady Katherine thinks you're a good fit, we'll be asking you to join the election immediately."

Mrs. Rebbecca paused and looked at all the girls in the auditorium and then continued. "Of course this is a lengthy process, and we've been notified of this last month, so we've been given plenty of time to select the best girls which we will be announcing tomorrow, after we've finalized the list."

The auditorium stood silent in shock for a moment with the sudden news, and when that moment passed, everyone started screaming. Yes, you heard me right, screaming. A very unladylike thing to do in my opinion. I got bugged, the fact that I didn't even polish my mannerisms or work very hard on my academics, made me feel that I wouldn't get selected.

Clementine's eyes gleamed, I knew what she was thinking, and I also knew that there was a high chance that she would get what she wanted. Clementine was pretty, popular among the grade and not as bad at academics as you may think, she's just forgetful.

I bit my lip, I felt like being excited but I also didn't want to disappoint myself for not getting selected. I made up my mind to live in the moment and cheered with the other girls.

"QUIET DOWN!" Mrs. Rebecca screamed through the mic, "I said QUIET!" she glared at us, "All of you back to your dorms! At this rate we won't be selecting ANYBODY!" she threatened, indeed very pissed at our unruly behavior.

Girls continued to converse with one another even as they exited the auditorium, the sun started to set, two classes had only passed by and was the day already over? I shrugged, the new news was still processing in my head, but I knew one thing for sure, I needed to sleep over it.

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"WAKE UPP!" I heard someone yell, the first rays of sun had only just entered through my window, as I shifted over to the other side, ignoring the noise.

"WAKE UP PHOEBE! You don't know if the supervisors are doing morning checks to see if the future empresses are ready for the day!"

"Stop acting like you're going to be chosen" I huffed, upset of being woken up so early, "And why are you disturbing me if you want to become empress."

"Well I want to rule with my sidekick, duh."

"I'm your sidekick?" I raised my eyebrows, "If one of us had to be chosen I would have a higher chance of it." I said, clearly knowing that I was lying.

Clementine sighed and rolled her eyes, "Just get up, maybe we'll be having assembly early today."

I reluctantly got up and dressed, I ironed my ginger curls, put on my gown and my washed crimson cloak. I smiled at myself in the mirror as I put on some like makeup, on my face to cover up as much freckles as I could, and waited on Clementine to finish with her makeup, a regular routine between us. But this time Clementine took a lot of extra time, which was odd.

I took the free time to look our of my balcony. I had a clear view of the towns here in the Imperium. Women and children wore gowns, held baskets and shopped for vegetables. Carriages sped past them and the birds sang peacefully on the shop railings. It almost felt as if I was living in a fairytale. But then again, The Imperium is a fairytale.

"Come on." she promptly dragged me out of my dorm room, 'Lets get breakfast and go to our classes, we can't risk being late!"

I rolled my eyes, again, and agreed. As we walked down the staircase, I noticed all the girls crowded together in threes and fours discussing amongst themselves wondering which girl from what caste would become the next empress and placing bets on who would get accepted from our academy.

"I think Sophia would get selected, she's awesome at everything, except theatre arts, but she's still better at it than I am." Clementine commented. "Veronica is going to get in for sure, I think Georgia might get in too-"

"Nope, I heard she got suspended because she refused to back down from the lead in the annual play last month, she hasn't still gotten over the fact that it was given over to Veronica."

"Hmmm... oh well, I can't blame her, I can give you a thousand reasons to be mad at Veronica." She giggled.

"You could get selected, you know?" I really wanted to avoid this conversation, but I had to let the elephant out of the room.

"Maybe." she sounded vague, or she knew that I wasn't going to and she felt bad.

I lifted my gown and finished walking the rest of the stairs down to the cafeteria, near the entrance of the quarters. Our academy has three cafeterias, one for the juniors, one for the frosh's and one for the seniors, us.

The cafeteria wasn't special, they served us a variety of cuisines but I always stuck to the salad. After all, a girl's best weapon is her beauty, which apparently came from greens.

"I hate Avocado Caesar salad." Clementine, yet again, commented. "Did you know they mash avocados and mix it in?"

'Gee I didn't realize, oh wait a minute! Isn't that what its called?" I replied sarcastically, it wasn't the healthiest of salads but at least it sounded healthy. "What are you getting?"

"French Fries and mashed potatoes."

"That's it? You usually have a whole buffet for breakfast."

"Well now I need to start being healthier if I'm going to be an empress."

"French fries aren't healthy.' I pointed out, ignoring the fact that she claimed to become the empress. She just rolled her eyes, grabbed her fries and sat down on the nearest table, next to the window, where we usually sat.

I placed my plate down on the table and carefully ate everything on my plate, I could notice that Clementine was eating gracefully, not a single spill or a single word while she ate, she was taking the empress thing too seriously, and that unsettled me, I didn't think she realized that she would have to leave me and give up her life her at the academy for a better one.

"So what's first class?" I asked while giving my finished plate to one of the cooks.

"Just to my luck, theatre arts. Can't we actually start learning something fruitful at the beginning of the day?"

I looked at her in confusion, this election thing was completely changing her. 'But you enjoy watching the theatre?" I said it as more of a question.

"Well I do not like things I am not very good at, it spoils my reputation."

I stared vaguely at her, it was funny how thirst for power could change a person completely. I'll admit I was unhappy, partly because I wanted to prove myself of that power, and partly because Clementine was just willing to leave me.

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I walked to class, Clementine didn't talk much during the walk, but she did comment a few rash opinions towards the juniors, stating that they weren't noble enough to actually become empresses.

'Ok stop." I finally said right outside the door to our class. 'What is your problem? You keep acting strangely, like you're going to become an empress, and you're completely neglecting who you are." I know it sounded a bit cheesy, but I had to say it.

"I'm not acting strange! I just want to become an empress, like all the other three thousand girls in this school!"

"You do realize that there would be around fifty to hundred other girls competing for the throne too, right?"

"Maybe I won't stand a chance, but at least I can tell people that I got selected to become an empress, and maybe that'll lead me to becoming a heiress to one of the empress' higher nobles."

"And since when do you care about a title?" I exasperatedly asked.

"ALL IMPERIALS CARE ABOUT TITLES! Don't deny it, I know you want a more powerful title too, we all do, we always want more, it's in our blood."

I stared blankly at her, she was right, but I didn't want to give that away, "Ok.' I said and opened the door to class. I wasn't mad at Clementine, I wasn't mad at myself either, I don't know why I was so upset, was it the fact the Clementine indirectly said that she had a better chance of getting a nobler title than I did, or was it because I didn't want her to leave me?

"Morning Ms. Miller decided to join us as one of the Intrepids for this spring's Trine Banquet history performance?" our Drama teacher, Mrs. Fredricka, greeted me.

"I think she should be an Astute." Veronica snickered. "She is one anyway."

"Veronica Harrington, would you like that going into your noble profile? Rude and ill mannered teases? Why if they find out about your caste comments, you would never-"

'It was Tiana!" Veronica accused. 'She was the one who said it, not me!"

Tiana looked taken back, "I would never ever-'

"Tianna, My office after class." Mrs. Fredricka ordered her, and Tiana started to sob, nobody likes getting accused, or getting punished, especially when its your best friend who got you into that trouble.

"I forgot to mention." Mrs. Fredricka started, "The headmistress would be calling the selected student today before lunch at assembly."

Clementine Bounced up and down next to me, "That's just three classes away!" she shrieked, forgetting all about the little argument we had just before.

"So that means that Lady Katherine has already chosen the girls, which means that you can stop acting so royal."

"Clementine stared blankly at me, "Of course not, not until the announcement."

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Within a half hour drama class had ended, Emma's got her leg sprained because Veronica tripped her, and Tiana wouldn't stop sobbing. Mrs. Fredricka decided that this much practice was enough for one day, and sent us off half an hour early to our next class, which was arithmetic.

"Good morning students, please don't let your minds wander off because of yesterday's announcement, I am Lady Isabella, turn to page twenty-five in your texts." our substitute arithmetic teacher crammed everything into one which made it sound like a lot of mumble.

We kept mum and went to our seats, Clementine sat next to Florence again and I sat at the front alone. Arithmetic was hard, not a single girl in our school could get more than a 70% on it, Imperials are made for royalty, Astutes are made for numbers.

"Phoebe, what is the answer to question twelve?"

"Well, its-um... forty-five?"

"WRONG! You must simplify the terms inside the parentheses before doing the overall calculation, Sophia? What did you get?"

Sophia stood up from her seat, "Three hundred and sixty three."

"Correct. Miller, read your text properly before attempting the exercises."

I quietly mumbled yes and continued to solve my exercises. A small part of my crimson cloak brushed my side as I wrote the formulas, vigorously, down.

"Clementine would you mind reading out the answers you have gotten for questions fifteen?"

"Uh, for 'a' I got thirty five thousand, b, the square root of twenty five that is five, c, zero, and d, is false."

"Not very bad, except it's thirty thousand and d, is true. Next Dennison, tell me the answer for..."

My mind was dazed, the clock showed that it was three minutes till the end of the period and I couldn't restrain myself from day-dreaming. An Imperials life is nothing but the best, yet I always find myself bored of how predictable it can be. Graduate from the academy, become a noble and spend your life as a royal, going to parties, dressing up and maintaining your status, nothing interesting about any of those. Sometimes I secretly wish for a life of an Intrepid, to follow where life takes you, making no regrets.

"Mrs Miller, do you plan on staring at your textbook all day or attend your next class?" Lady Fredricka's voice rang through my ears.

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Time flied so fast. I picked up my books and headed to our next class before the assembly, a bit excited to see who would get selected and a bit hesitant to find out if it was Clementine.

"Welcome girls to History and Culture. We'll be picking up from where we left off yesterday, Georgia please recap what we have learned so far." Mrs. Charlotte roughly greeted us.

I rolled my eyes and sat next to Clementine. "You finish the homework?' I reminded her.

"Actually, yes. I did." came her shocking reply, I raised my eyebrow in suspicion.

"You don't need to doubt me, I finished it last night, what about you?"

My face went red, "I completed half of it."

'Hmph, underestimating others is not a good practice."

"Clementine and Courtney please submit your reports." Mrs. Charlotte called.

Clementine rose from her seat and handed in her report along with the new girls, Courtney, who joined a few weeks ago. I scribbled in the rest of my report which made it a bit shabby, but presentable.

"Presley and Phoebe." Mrs Charlotte called again.

I lifted myself up careful to see if any legs were in my way and handed my report over to Mrs. Charlotte, she looked at my handwriting and dismissed me back to my seat. I didn't feel good, for not giving in my best work and for judging Clementine so harshly.

'I see that almost all of you have submitted your work on time, now get back to class, make sure to take down lecture notes as we discuss the chapter."

Just ten Susan, the new librarian, burst into the classroom, "Sorry for the interruption." she panted. "But the empress has requested all selected students to arrive at the castle for the start of the preparation today evening, so the headmistress has asked the whole school to come down to the auditorium NOW."

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My heart was pounding, this was so spontaneous, no-one would believe it could even happen. And I wondered why no-one was giving this more of a big deal than they ought to.

"Ok now, we're going to do this quickly." Mrs. Rebecca explained standing on the podium. The auditorium was filling up like water gushing from a dam. Girls ran into their lines and teachers stood at the side. Soon the auditorium was packed.

Alexandra Jones..." she read from a file.

Alexandra Shrieked, all her friends cheered and hugged her, my heart was still pounding.

"Amelia Roberts, Caroline Frederique's, Clementine Williams..."

Clementine fell, she most probably had fainted, in retrospect, anyone would have if they found out they could be future empresses. My face fell, what I wanted to avoid had already happened.

I had this sudden urge to just go up on the podium and nominate myself in, than facing the loneliness of Clementine going to be an empress and I being all alone. I smiled at her, I was happy for her, she was pretty, smart and would be a great Empress, I grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the ground, everyone was crowding which made me feel overcrowded and sick.

"Alright, Alright! Give Clementine some space, next we have... Elenora Harris, Emma Norton, Sophia Copperfield, Victoria Dennison and Veronica Harrington."

My face fell, I knew it was odd for me to think that my name would have been called, out of the three thousand students, many who were better than me, Clementine looked at my disappointed eyes and smiled with sympathy. I smiled back, so I didn't get the opportunity, but at least I didnt have to give up my life.

"You may go back to your classes."

Lady Katherine walked up to Mrs. Rebecca, and whispered something to her ear, she nodded and Lady Katherine left.

Students dispersed from the auditorium. Yelling and shrieking about becoming an empress.

I smiled at the ground and walked back to my dorm room, all the selected girls were made to stay back.

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The first few years when I entered the academy was tough, especially since Clementine didnt join until after I finished three years in the academy. Those were the worst years of my life, being alone was one of the biggest fears of an imperial, sociability is our strength, we are comfortable around anyone except those who we feel threatened by, like Veronica.

I clutched the end of my cloak and walked with the crowds, towards our dorms in the second building.

I walked by a junior, and hit her on the shoulder, she looked upset, and I don't know why I didn't bother to apologize.

"Hey!" she yelled. I just scoffed and turned towards my dorm hall.

Why was I being so aggressive?

"Phoebe!" someone called. It was Florence. "Clementine asked me to tell you that she's sorry you didn't get selected and that she would decline if you're unhappy with her..."

"Unhappy? WHY would I be UNHAPPY? I am SO happy for her, that she gets to LIVE HER DREAMS, and I CAN'T!" I yelled, something was wrong with me, fists clenched and my face turned red.

"S-sorry.' I mumbled. "I just feel faint, tell Clementine that I'm fine and that she doesn't have to decline."

Florence stared at me in confusion as I walked away, my fists still clenched. Excited chatter rose from the halls, girls were chirping about who would become an empress, and about the things that the selected girls were lucky to get.

I slammed my door shut and fell on my bed, a very unladylike thing to do.

I brushed my curls, washed my face and put my cloak to dry outside, though it wasn't particularly wet. I sat back on my chair and examined my dorm. Unlike the others, once you're a senior, you get the perk of having a dorm room to yourself, though it's just one bedroom, it's still cozy.

The room was tiny, elaborate drapes fell from the window side, the bed was made ready, and my clothes were neatly piled on a shelf.

I looked out of my balcony again, the view always manages to make me calmer. Few women were outside at the shops, men in business suits were hoping on the carriages and little children played across the road, making sure their sun-hats were not falling off of them.

I looked at the mirror and examined myself, I knew it was impossible for me to be selected out of three thousands students who go here, but I was still in a fit. Why can't I be chosen, don't I possess the necessary qualities? Or do I not look pretty enough? My fingers brushed my freckles, and I stared at myself in the mirror.

Clementine was lucky, and I was enveloped in envy, like water toppling over me, soaking into my clothes, making me feel cold and bitter.

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"Phoebe Miller." someone knocked from outside my door, it sounded like a teacher. "Phoebe, The headmistress wants to see you after lunch."

I opened the door and I saw the new librarian outside, Susan, it looked like she worked as a secretary and a librarian. "Lady Katherine would like to discuss some very important matters with you urgently after you have finished your lunch.

I looked at her in confusion, "Why? Is it because Clementine declined? Please tell I didn't want her to-'

"No Clementine did not decline, neither is it something about your faults, she wants to discuss with you specifically, something that she has not mentioned to me."

I raised an eyebrow, "Uh-ok" I acknowledged. And she subtly left.

I dragged myself to the cafeteria, still feeling combative and unsure of myself, "I'd like a caesar salad, please." I asked politely, the cook nodded and handed me a plastic container, in which was my Caesar salad.

"That'll be twenty-five trine credits."

"Um, I dont have the exact amount... but I do have a fifty tribus note."

The cook grabbed it from my hand and made me leave without even receiving my change. I rolled my eyes, something that I thought I'd never do without Clementine around, and sat near one of the windows of the cafeteria. It wasn't crowded because different grades got different lunch times in the three different cafeterias we had in the academy.

"Hello Lady Phoebe, you forgot to arrive for our tea party, where were you?" Chloe asked while she sat next to me, which was usually Clementine's place.

"I had to get Clementine out of detention so that she could come for the party as well, but then a teacher told us to go straight to the auditorium for the announcement" I explained. "And, well, after that we didn't have RC."

Chloe's face fell, "Why do you always have to be around Clementine so much? I mean there are thousand students here who'd love to talk to you." I gave her a skeptical look and she rolled her eyes and left.

Why was everyone being so irrational and unexplainable today? I just shook my head and ate the rest of my salad, before reluctantly going to Lady Katherines office.

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"Lovely afternoon, Lady Katherine." I greeted while taking a seat on the chair closest to her desk, which was bestrewn with a plethora of paper spread and piled. The door closed behind me.

'It is indeed, please take a seat," she looked straight into my green eyes. I gulped and hesitantly sat down, the atmosphere was eerie, and incredibly suspicious. "I called you here to tell you something important.

I plainly nodded.

"You do realize that we only called out nine names of girls who were elected, right?" I looked at her blandly and mumbled, "Alexandra, Amelia, Caroline, Clementine." I started counting. "Only nine." I realized.

Lady Katherine smiled, "The empress herself has elected the last person to become her next successor, and we had no right to questions her choices, and as what she has instructed, we want to inform you that Empress Beatrice the III cordially invites you to compete with the other girls for the throne, specifically you Phoebe Miller."

I gasped, and that was the only thing I remember doing before passing out.

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Feel free to give your suggestions on what should happen next! I'm genuinely surprised you actually made it this far! Thanks for reading, or for even scrolling through this book, it means the world to know that my work is being read.🤍

- Leigh     ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*